Her
by LunaSolTierra
Summary: You can't command the heart.


They met five years ago, in college. She was trying to get his attention but he didn't seem to get the hint until she asked him out for coffee. By the end of the semester they were officially a couple. They met each others parents. Her dad approved of him, his parents loved her. After college, they moved in together and two years ago, he proposed. They were happy. They spent the last year planning their perfect wedding, their happy ever after and they couldn't wait. Their future was set.

They were on their way home in her car. She had been shopping for their wedding and just picked him up at work. She was excitingly talking about their upcoming wedding. But he was somewhere else. Disappointment fill her. It's been like this for a few weeks now. Once inside their home she dropped her shopping bags.

"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing." She could see the sadness in his eyes.

"I know you better than anyone Barry, something is going on. We're getting ready to get married yet is like you rather be anywhere else."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is. A few weeks ago, you were so excited to get married and now you forget our meeting with the pastor, you don't show up to fittings, you hate the flowers that we both picked and you are absent-minded all the time. I think this is the most attention you've given me in the last few weeks."

"I've been paying attention."

"Oh really what was I taking about on the way here?"

Barry draws blank. He closes his eyes and rubs his neck.

"You know at first I thought it was cold feet, so I wasn't worry, everybody gets those. But now I'm starting to notice that it's more than that. I'm not the only one who's notice, your mom noticed too and she's as concerned as I am. You're sad all the time and right now you have this look of devastation on your face. "

"I just….

"What's going on Barry. We've been together five years and we've always been honest with each other even when it hurts, tell me the truth. I'm ready to walk down the aisle to you, I'm ready to marry you and build our happily ever after but you need honest with me. Please tell me what is going on. Because for the life of me I can't understand. What is happening to you, please be honest with me."

"I'm in love with someone else."

She gasps as she feels her world crumble. Tears form in her eyes. "What?"

Tears form in his eyes and he swallowed hard. "I fell in love with someone else. I didn't mean to do it, I swear, it just happened." Said Barry with tears in his eyes. He hated hurting her.

"We're getting married in one week and you're telling me that you're in love with someone else. Why…Howe?"

"It's not like I planned it, it just happened."

"How long has this being going on?" she yells, angry tears falling down her face.

"I met her three weeks ago."

"Three weeks, three weeks…How the hell do you fall in love with someone in three weeks Barry." She yelled angrily.

"I don't know, I didn't set out to fall for her." He said crying.

"But you did, as you so claim."

"Patty we can still get marry, this changes nothing. I still love you. I am never going to see her again."

"Why not?"

"We figure it out the case, the men were arrested and she wrote her article. That's the end of it. Besides she has a boyfriend."

"Oh so that's the real reason that is over."

"No…"

"Did you cheat on me?"

"No, of course not. You know I would never do that. I wouldn't, I won't."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not that kind of guy."

"You may not have cheated on me physically, but you've been cheating on me emotionally."

He hung his head in shame, he couldn't deny that. She was crying and pacing trying to wrap her head around the fact that her boyfriend of five years; fiancé of two apparently had fallen for someone else.

"This is insane Barry. Are you sure it isn't cold feet, maybe you're just nervous and your confusing your emotions."

Barry stayed silent.

"Barry talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Tell me that it isn't true."

"I wish that I could tell you that it is just wedding jitters. But I know how I feel."

"Are you sure."

"I wish I wasn't. All this years I never doubted our relationship or our future. I was ready to wait for you at the altar and married you. When I proposed, I wanted to get married and make you my wife and live together for the rest of our lives. But then I met _her_. Iris West."

"How did this happen. Tell me."

"Three weeks ago I went back to a crime scene to see if I missed anything, and there she was; doing her own investigation. She's a reporter. We started arguing right away. I told her she couldn't be there and she told me that is not up to me where she could and could not be. Then these guys came and started shooting at us. We barely got out and decided that we couldn't leave things as they were, so we started working together to find the person responsible for the murders. We each did our investigations and pulled out resources and we figured it out."

"And in all that time did it ever occurred to you that you were…" She couldn't say it out loud.

"No, I mean yes I…When first met her I felt this instant connection with her, like I never felt with anyone. We could talk for hours and hours about anything and everything. I love spending time with her, getting to know her. I would notice things about her like how she's talks with her hands and how she's a tactile person and the way her eyes shine when she smiles. Her unhealthy obsession with brownies and coffee. As we worked together I noticed things about her that made me admire her. How kind and smart she was. How inquisitive and perceptive she is. How passionate she is about getting the truth out there, even putting her life in danger for people whose life depended on the truth."

She could see the admiration in his face and hear it in his voice. "She's beautiful inside and out and funny and kind and wonderful and just an amazing person and reporter. Her boldness and self-confidence, the way she carries herself. I never met anyone like her."

"Do you hear yourself?" This brought him back to reality.

"Patty I'm so sorry. It was never my intention to fall for her."

"But you did."

The look of devastation was clear on both their faces. After a long silence, she shook her head.

"When did you realize that you…. Have feelings for her?"

"Patty….

"ANSWER ME."

"I don't know, but what I do know that from the moment I met her I felt love. I couldn't explain it. And as we spent time together it kept growing. I couldn't stop thinking about her from the moment we met. I couldn't wait to see her the next day. Sometimes it felt like my whole world would end if I didn't see her or hear her voice. I long to be near her, to her talk to her. I could be having the worse day and the moment I saw her my day would be instantly better. As a scientist, I know that there's nothing magical about what makes us feel, but when I see her smile, man that cannot be science. I think when I first realize that I was in love with her was when we were saying goodbye. We hugged and I remember, I felt love so much love, such overwhelming love that I never wanted to let her go, and I felt at peace, I felt like I was finally _home_. And then when we had to let go, I never felt such overwhelming lost. I felt like my whole world was ending. I feel like a part of me is missing, like I'm not whole anymore, I'm sorry."

"You know we've been together five years.; five years. And not once have I ever heard you express yourself like that about me."

"Patty I'm sorry."

"Stop saying you're sorry, that does not make feel better." She yells crying.

"I know I'm so…." He stopped himself before he could finish.

"Did you ever loved me?" She asked crying.

"Of course, I still love you Patty."

"Like you love her." The silence was overwhelming. How do you tell your fiancé that the love you have for her doesn't even compare to the love you feel for someone you met three weeks ago?That you now know what real raw unconditional love feels like and its nothing like you ever felt before.

"Can you tell me with certainty that you love me like you love her."

"Patty…" Barry didn't know what to say.

"Say it"

"I love you Patty. I really do." He said crying.

"But."

"I love her like I never loved anyone. I love her more than anything, more than anyone in this universe. I can't stop, I don't want to."

It was devastating to hear the truth, if he was someone else she would question his honesty. But with Barry it was written all over his face. "There's my answer. You love me, but you're not in love with me. You never were. Were you?"

"I thought I was."

"That's not enough. The wedding's off. Goodbye Barry." He didn't try to stop her.


End file.
